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Monday, August 01, 2011

Philippine Opera Company presents Ang Bagong Harana

The Philippine Opera Company presents “Ang Bagong Harana,” a musical journey that offers fresh takes on immortal and classic Filipino songs, performed by the country’s foremost classically-trained singers and artists.

“'Ang Bagong Harana” will integrate past, present, north, south, colonial, post-colonial experiences and put them into a revue where our whole souls will be the source of inspiration,” says show director Floy Quintos. “The different suites will mix old songs and new while talking about who we are as Filipinos and where we have been.”

The show will also showcase the best of all the Filipino composers from different music eras and genres--Nicanor Abelardo, Ryan Cayabyab, Willy Cruz, Francisco Santiago, Antonio Molina, Resti Umali, George Canseco, Ernani Cuenco, Levi Celerio, Jose Estrella, Constancio De Guzman and Felipe de Leon, to name some.

The first incarnation of “Harana” was conceived by Philippine Opera Company’s Artistic Director, Karla Gutierrez, in 2008 as a vehicle to showcase the evolution of Philippine music through song and movement. The show was critically well-received, and also toured Amsterdam (2009) and the cities of Cebu, Roxas, Antique, Bohol, Palawan (2010), Bacolod, Ormoc, Tacloban and Samar (2011).

The word “Harana” is the Filipino name of a traditional form of courtship in which a man woos a woman’s affection by singing underneath her window. The creation of each “Harana” suite is a product of thorough research with the commitment to preserve indigenous Philippine music and its appropriate dance and folklore.

“This romantic tradition was widely practiced in the old Philippines,” says Gutierrez. In the 1920s, the harana or kundiman became a much more mainstream musical style, with many popular performers, including Diomedes Maturan and Ruben Tagalog popularizing the art form. Now, however, the practice of harana has died, that’s why POC is reviving this beautiful Filipino tradition.”

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